


Decorating Is Difficult

by Galindrael



Series: A Very Dragon Age Christmas [8]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: DECFANFIC, Day Eight, Decorating the Tree, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-09
Updated: 2014-12-09
Packaged: 2018-02-28 18:59:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,446
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2743592
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Galindrael/pseuds/Galindrael
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Scáthach had asked the Commander to complete a simple task while she was away. Poor Cullen did not think the task through very well and was ever-so-lucky that Dorian had a plan. </p><p>For the #DecFanFic contest.</p><p>There are currently 22 parts to this series, the link, for some reason is broken- sorry for the issue, I'm trying to fix it (as of 1 February 2015)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Decorating Is Difficult

Cullen was in the Inquisitor’s room just staring at the tree that he and Scáthach picked out of the forest and cut just for themselves a few days prior. She wanted one just for them so they could keep their personal gifts away from the prying eyes of the residents of Skyhold, but now he was just….staring at it. _How do I start? Maker, where do I start?_ The vendor that Josephine hired to bring all of his holiday wares to Skyhold for the week wasn’t very helpful.

“I need ornaments. And tinsel, for a tree,” He walked up happily as no one else was awake yet and he could go about his day undisturbed. The make-shift store still smelled of the tanning supplies it once held.

The man turned around, “Yes, of course,” the man paused just for a split second, “Commander Cullen, what kind would you like?” Cullen’s eyebrows pinched together.

“I have no idea what you mean.”

“Do you have a certain colour, certain shape, or theme in mind?” _There are themes? What if I pick one she doesn’t like? “Just decorate it while I’m gone”. Yes that’s so easy Scáthach. But you bloody well forgot to mention what you like before you went off-_

“Commander?” The man had leaned in and Cullen hadn’t noticed.

“Sorry, excuse me,” was all he could manage before he left the stall.

_I’ll just go up there and figure out what she likes. It can’t be that difficult, right?_

 

Maker, help him that was nearly an hour ago now. He remembered her saying that her favourite colour was green but you can’t very well put green decorations on an evergreen tree, can you? _Wait, can you?_ Cullen pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to come up with the plan to decorate the tree in a way that she liked. She did start talking about it last night but Cullen had other ideas on how to spend the rest of their night together and he was wishing that he had let her finished before he had wrapped his hands around her and pulled her to him. _Maker she’s soft and so beautiful in moonlight. I had no idea she could bend like that, either. And that thing she does with her tongue- Oh, damn it!_   He covered his face with his hands, dragged them down his face and plopped his hands in his lap. He put his head back and groaned out of sheer frustration. _Give me an army 10,000 strong and I can tell you a purpose for each of them_ , he looked to the tree in disgust, _But give me a fucking tree and free range for decorating it and I’m a mess._  He looked to the bed, _their_ bed and decided it would be a better thinking place than the bench at the foot of the bed. It just looked comfortable and it was. It really, _really_ was.

 

Dorian spoke suddenly, causing the Commander to jump out of his sleep, “Aw, well aren’t you just adorable”. Cullen had wrapped himself around Scáthach’s pillow; it smelling strongly of vanilla and chamomile had lulled him to sleep.

Cullen shot up instantly to see the Tevinter mage next to him, swathed in their silk sheets. Dorian had slipped into Scáthach’s side of the bed and was sitting up, hands knitted across the base of his skull and legs neatly crossed, “ _What_ are you doing?!”

“Oh, calm down, dear-y, you didn’t show up for our chess match and I was worried that Scáthach had tied you up last night and forgot to untie you before she left this morning, so I, being the noble gent that I am, came to your rescue”. Cullen shot him an unamused look before he left the warmth of the bed.

“I must have fallen asleep”, he said as he was stretching his sides.

“Rough night, hmmm?” Dorian still hadn’t moved and Cullen saw an opportunity to wipe the smug right off his face.

“Yes, didn’t even have time to change the sheets, I’m afraid,” Dorian registered what he said and madly kicked off the sheets and leapt out of the bed.

“You, Ser Rutherford, are an animal,” Dorian was wiping off the imagined filth from his clothes.

Cullen chuckled, grabbed his coat that he threw off that morning off the chair it was resting on and slipped it on.

Dorian was at the tree now, and he twisted about to look to Cullen “You know we have a bigger one downstairs. It’s all pretty and well-decorated and—“ Cullen groaned at the word ‘decorated’, “Oh- is our dear Commander tasked with such a terrible thing, hmm” Dorian had leaned against Cullen’s shoulder.

Cullen looked to the mustached man, then back to the tree “I have no idea what to do, Dorian”.

“Say no more!” And Dorian just grabbed his hand and they made their way to the library. What a sight they were, Cullen’s hair sticking out everywhere and being practically dragged up the stairs by the smaller man. Varric saw them from down the main hall and just smiled.

 

“Dorian. Why did you bring me to the library?”  Cullen asked as the Tevinter man who hadn’t spoken since they got there and was silently scanning the bookshelf for one in particular.

“Come now, Commander, you surely can guess it?” Dorian had moved to the next row below.

Cullen ignored him, “I am up to my eyes in reports, which I had intended to do sometime today and the one thing Scáthach actually asked of me and I do not have any idea about where to go from here,” Cullen sat down in the chair Dorian usually used himself, “I am useless for this task, Dorian”.

“AHA”, Dorian plucked the book for the shelf sauntered over, “Most men are useless, Commander,” he handed him the book, “Find one you think she’ll like and I can help with the rest”.

 

It was a book about how to furnish a home in different styles across Thedas; little subsections under each major country and even more under that for some specific towns. He looked through most of the book until he finally derived a plan.

Dorian was sitting in the chair next to him re-reading _Dane and the Werewolf_ , so he just opened up the book to the one style he liked and then the style he thought she would like and asked Dorian, ever so meekly, if he could help mesh them together. Dorian smiled, shut his book and stood up.

“Of course! Let’s go get supplies, with your gold, of course,” Dorian offered Cullen his arm and Cullen just playfully shoved him on his way.

 

When the vendor made eye-contact with Cullen, Cullen went red as he remembered his rather awkward exit from earlier but Dorian, as usual, made himself the center of the man’s attention. Once he was directed towards his goal he went off, Cullen silently tagging along. Dorian shoved the basket at Cullen and began tossing stuff in wildly. The glass ornaments were neatly placed in the smaller basket Dorian picked up as to not break them. _He’s going to take all my gold.._ Cullen thought as he watched the man continuously add things to Cullen’s basket.

Truthfully, they weren’t in there very long, but Cullen felt so uneasy with so many people packed in such a small space. Someone bumped into him and he felt his whole body tense in response. _All packed into such a small space. Some surrounded, unable to move. Too tight. Too tight._ Memories started filtering in when Dorian happily announce he was finished. _Oh, thank the Maker._

They made their way back up to the Inquisitor’s room. Dorian used the bed to organize the decorations while Cullen swept away the fallen pine needle and water the damned beast, perturbed that he not only had to shake some needles out of his hair but that he also had to take off his pauldrons to shake out all of the needles that had fallen onto it.  Dorian had begun to pair certain items together and he’d make Cullen go place them on the tree— with Dorian guiding where each was to go.

 

They were at it for hours. They’d finish decorating and Dorian would change a detail. Then he wouldn’t like it again and had Cullen re-arrange the tree once more. _Sixth time’s the charm, yea?_ Finally Dorian found the “perfect” arrangement, which meant Cullen finally got a chance to step back and take-in their handy work. It was beautifully simple and quite a tactful representation of Honnleath and Ostwick meshed together. Really, their representations of the holiday weren’t _too_ different but each place had specific nods to the holiday that the other did not; Honnleath had holly weaved throughout the tree and Ostwick had little blue bows with bells attached sporadically to the ends of some of the branches. Dorian flicked a branch that had a bell and its sweet chime filled the moment.

The two men jumped when the door opened loudly, “Cullen, are you in here,” they heard the Inquisitor shout then the sounds of her feet upon the wooden stairs. “Wait!” Cullen shouted. Dorian had never seen the Commander run like that before and couldn’t help the laugh that escaped his lips. Cullen met a rather confused looking Scáthach who had stopped on the sixth step.

 

“What,” Scáthach’s look worried and a bit bewildered but eased up as she saw Cullen smiling.

“I have a surprise,” Cullen began.

“ _We_ have a surprise” Dorian called out.

“Dorian?” she asked, unsure if she had actually heard him.

“Hi, pumpkin” he cheerily replied.

“Never you mind him,” Cullen kissed her on the cheek and Dorian scoffed from out of sight, “Take my hands,” he offered them to her.

“Cullen what’s-” he cut her off.

“Trust me,” he raised his hands up slightly more and she shook her head and placed her hands in his, “Now close your eyes”.

 

Cullen led her up the rest of the stairs, one by one. He guided her around the obstacles in the room until she was in front of the tree. Dorian came up to stand facing Scáthach so he could see her face when the tree is revealed. Cullen walked around her and placed his hands around her eyes

Cullen leaned down to her and softly whispered against the shell of her ear, “I hope this is what you had in mind, I know I interrupted you last night when you were speaking of it,” the warmth of his breath against her ear made Scáthach shudder.

“Ok, open your eyes,” Cullen removed his hands and she let out a soft surprised sigh.

“Cullen, it’s beautiful,” she laughed, “Which, I suppose, is why Dorian is here”.

Cullen laughed, “Yes, dear Dorian helped me immensely. I probably would’ve been still staring at it had he not helped,” Cullen clasped Dorian’s shoulder then nodded to the man before he returned his attention back to Scáthach who was still mesmerized by the tree.

“My boys did well,” she finally stated before she turned around and yanked them both to her, “Thank you both so much, it’s lovely”.

“It’s a shame no one else will get to see my handy-work besides you two,” Dorian pulled away from the hug, “But, alas, I am cursed to have my talents hidden yet again,” Dorian bowed lowly to the couple who still hadn’t moved away from the hug he was just a part of, “Now, if you’ll excuse me I need to see a Bull about a romp”.

Cullen laughed and Scáthach just shook her head. Just as Dorian got down one of the stairs, Cullen called out his name and he turned back to the Commander who was now at the top of the stairs, Dorian coming back up the one step to even their height. Cullen placed a hand on Dorian’s shoulder and pulled the man into another quick hug, “I really could not have done this without you and I can’t thank you enough for helping me make her happy,” Cullen shot  a look to Scáthach who was now behind a room divider changing her clothes.

Dorian smiled, “Of course. I’d hope you’d do the same for me if you had any sense of decoration,” he joked.

“I would, Dorian. You are a dear friend, and I would help with what I could. I almost just bought green ornaments,” he joked.

Dorian mock-gasped, “You are truly lucky I you have me as a friend and that I was here to save you from that disaster,”

“Well, thank you, Dorian,” Cullen backed up a bit, and looked to Scáthach who was now dressed in her casual clothing.

Dorian looked to Cullen who was still distracted by the Inquisitor, “Right, I’ll be off then,” and with that Dorian descended the stairs.

 

Cullen turned around to see Scáthach rubbing her fingers on one of the velveteen bows. Cullen came up behind her and placed his chin on her shoulder. She leaned back instinctly as Cullen wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in closer to him. _This is where I belong_. He nuzzled into her neck and she placed her hands atop his crossed ones.

“It’s beautiful, Cullen. I love the bows, they remind me of when I was little,” she turned to face him, “Used to stay up for hours tying them with my mother,” a solemn face crept up slowly before she shook her head and replaced it with a sweet smile, “Thank you”.

“I basically just paid Dorian to do it,” he laughed. She smiled and Cullen couldn’t help himself. He leaned down and placed his gloved hand on her face. She leaned into his hand, as she always did, and he removed it to place two fingers under her chin and tilt her face to his, as he always did. He kissed her, softly- he wanted to just feel his lips on hers. She closed the small gap that was between their bodies and ran her fingers through his hair. Cullen let a small moan escape his lips as Scáthach lightly tugged at his hair, and her hands had snuck under his shirt.

“Scáthach,” Cullen warned, his grip on her waist tightening slightly.

“Hmm?” She kept running her hands on his body, paying special attention to the dip of his hips near his waistline and tugging at the fabric of his pants. _She is my undoing._

“Maker, help me,” and he relented to her touch, letting her walk him backwards towards their bed, without a care in the world.

**Author's Note:**

> Day eight complete ( a little late)! I love Cullen's and Dorian's friendship SO MUCH, ughh. I enjoyed this one a lot, although I am disappointed that my research for the Inquisitor's family crest did not yield any results (except their tarot card). Well, I take what I can pry from BioWare's hands. I hope you enjoy!
> 
> A/N: Day Nine may also be a wee late, but it will be up soon!


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